This will be a long post so I put the idea in the title to get your attention because I really need your opinions and advice on this.

On short: I want to save some money, give up my daily job and practice about 7-8 hours a day for one year.

To me it's clear now, playing guitar is what I like to do the most and I never stopped dreaming that one day this is what I will do this for a living also. I know it is possible (even here in Eastern Europe) because I have lots of examples and I am willing to pay the price to get there, but for this, there is one essential condition: to be VERY GOOD at it. You don't need to be a guitar god but to be VERY GOOD at it. And here is the problem. I discovered this instrument (and all the related stuff) at 22 years old. Now I am 26.

It's been almost 3 years now since I have taken practice seriously which means that I invested 90% of my free time to this. I tried to get to a an average of 4 hours a day for practice but, unfortunately these are after about 6-8 hours of programming which is what I do for a living for 6 years now. All this is starting to be really toxic because a have very little time to spend with my family and fiends, read a book, watch a movie and the list can go on and beside this, I kinda feel that most of the time was just wasted because you cannot really assimilate much after working a day in front of a computer. As a result: my skills are still pretty low. (you can check out my REC takes if you like: http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...p?showuser=8284 or http://www.youtube.com/alexandrugeorgescu)

So, my plan is to save some money until around March next year that should last me for about 6 months, quit my job and start practicing 7-8 hours a day after a efficient agenda which I am sure I can find on GMC. Of course, to take some private lessons from a teacher in my town and there are some local bands which I can jam with. (I don't plan to practice alone for the whole time). So this will be the main activity of the day, just as I would have gone to a music school , and this way I will progress a lot better.

I know I said 1 year in the beginning but the 6 six months will be a milestone because my fear is that I still don't know if I have real talent at this. All I know I that I like it more than anything else and I want to do this for the rest of my life. I keep blaming it on the lack of time and on tiredness but I don't want to lie to myself and figure out some stuff about me. (I am not in high school anymore, not even college so I it is about time . Anyway, if after 6 month of practicing like this I still feel that I am not too far from the level I am now, then.. maybe this isn't my thing after all, or maybe 22 years old it is just to late to start playing guitar. But if is the other way around then I will do anything I can to get another 4-6 month of practice like this. And maybe after one year I will have the necessary skills to join a let's say.. semi-professional band an develop from there on. And on. And oooooon, it's Heaven and Heeeell \m/ !!!. Ok, got a little carried away here .

Anyway, rock and blues are the styles that I want to study. Would like jazz also but I haven't tried it before and I know that one year is not enough for this. I will approach it however.

So, please tell me, am I crazy ? is this a good idea ? do you think that one year is enough to get to a decent level ? (please check my REC takes also before answering to this one so you can have an idea of where I am now).

I know there are still lots to talk about, planing, etc but his was just the spark so.. please enlighten me

hmmm, a lot to think about there, as jstcrsn said, dont do anything too hasty, although obviously you have already given this much thought.

One thing you dont want to do is leave yourself vunerable later on.

personally I think the amount you already practice is enough, but I think you need to put some more efforts into joining a band and get gigging etc (if you havnt already) its great experience and I think it accelerated my learning no end when I joined a band.

Playing guitar for a living is certainly not a walk in the park, it may seem very attractive but I think the reality can at times be very different.

I think your idea is good. If you don't dare to try something it will never happen. The economics makes easy mathetatics. Save half of your money for one year and you can manage without work for one year, give or take.I don't know what opportunities you've got but possibly you don't have to quit your job but rather take a 1 year leave. So incase things doesn't work out.

I know a good example of a guy (20 years ago) - a guitarist, who gave up everything, set his mind to be the best guitarist and practiced for a full year - or was it two? He became a teriffic guitarist and was well known locally. I think he dropped the career and started a record company instead.

So if I was your age and had my mind set to become a great guitarist I'd give it a shot.The only thing I think you need to concider is what you want to become. There are about 1 million youtube shredders to compete with if you plan on playing fast. Being a good musician is something else. I'd bring that into my plan aswell, how to stick out like a sore thumb.

I think your idea is good. If you don't dare to try something it will never happen. The economics makes easy mathetatics. Save half of your money for one year and you can manage without work for one year, give or take.I don't know what opportunities you've got but possibly you don't have to quit your job but rather take a 1 year leave. So incase things doesn't work out.

I know a good example of a guy (20 years ago) - a guitarist, who gave up everything, set his mind to be the best guitarist and practiced for a full year - or was it two? He became a teriffic guitarist and was well known locally. I think he dropped the career and started a record company instead.

So if I was your age and had my mind set to become a great guitarist I'd give it a shot.The only thing I think you need to concider is what you want to become. There are about 1 million youtube shredders to compete with if you plan on playing fast. Being a good musician is something else. I'd bring that into my plan aswell, how to stick out like a sore thumb.

Good luck :-)

Thank you !

I know what you mean. Honestly, I really don't care so much about shredding. It is cool indeed, but music is an art not a sport and unfortunately, I see that few tend to remember that. Anyway, one of my main objectives is to focus on the special ingredient called feeling which I know I am missing